UN pleased with progress in refugee employment in Belarus

MOGILEV, 17 October (BelTA) – Cooperation for the sake of employing refugees is vigorously developed in Belarus, BelTA learned from Jean-Yves Bouchardy, Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Belarus. Jean-Yves Bouchardy took part in a roundtable session on the employment of refugees in Mogilev.

About 30 refugees are in need of employment in Belarus every year. So far this year 23 people have been offered jobs, 11 refugees have been hired. “Our job is to bring together all the interested parties for the sake of expanding and advancing cooperation in employment matters at the national and local levels. Helping the refugees establish a personal contact with employers is one of the most important moments. We have a positive example in Grodno where a refugee was offered a job during a similar roundtable session while the Radiovolna enterprise from Grodno became our partner. The enterprise has hired and has provided two refugee families with accommodation,” said Jean-Yves Bouchardy.

The roundtable session in Mogilev is the final one in the series of similar events held in all the oblast capitals of Belarus in 2017. “In my opinion, we've been able to find mutual understanding in resolving refugee employment problems. We've been able to bring together and establish cooperation between interested government agencies, private companies, and non-governmental organizations. We hope that it will have a positive effect on the employment of such persons in the near future,” Jean-Yves Bouchardy was convinced.

During the roundtable session representatives of organizations and enterprises were informed that no special permits are now required to employ refugees. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is ready to consider giving $2,000-3,000 per micro grant to potential employers for the sake of creating jobs for refugees. The organizers of the roundtable session believe that the practice of discussing topical problems of refugees via such roundtable sessions will be continued in 2018, too.

As of 1 October there were 933 registered refugees in Belarus, including 28 in Mogilev Oblast.